Alabama (Band)

Alabama is a country music group from Fort Payne, Alabama, formed by cousins Randy Owen, Teddy Gentry and Jeff Cook, with drummer Mark Herndon joining in 1979 [1][2]. Between 1980 and 1993 the band scored more than thirty No. 1 country singles, and Encyclopedia of Alabama credits it with 42 country No. 1s, more than 73 million albums sold and over 150 industry awards [1][2]. The band entered the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2005 [1][2].

Origins on Lookout Mountain

Owen and Gentry grew up on farms on Lookout Mountain, learned guitar and performed together in church; Owen, Gentry and Cook formed the high school band Young Country in 1969, and their first show, a talent contest, earned first place [3]. In 1972 they became Wildcountry and added drummer Bennett Vartanian [3]. They quit their day jobs and played bars across the Southeast, and in 1973 they moved to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, where they played six nights a week at The Bowery [3]. After signing a one-year deal with GRT Records in 1977 they were urged to take the name The Alabama Band, later shortened to Alabama [3]. Encyclopedia of Alabama dates the name change to 1979; the sources differ [1].

Breakthrough

Two Top Forty hits on the MDJ label, “I Wanna Come Over” (1979) and “My Home’s in Alabama” (1980), led to a 1980 showcase at the Country Radio Seminar and an RCA contract in April 1980 [2]. Cashbox named them New Vocal Group of the Year in 1980 [1]. From May 1980 to August 1982 they had eight No. 1 country singles, including “Tennessee River,” “Feels So Right” and “Mountain Music” [2]. From 1980 through 1993 they had at least one No. 1 each year, with songs such as “Dixieland Delight” (1983), “Forty Hour Week (For a Livin’)” (1985), “Song of the South” (1989) and “I’m in a Hurry (and Don’t Know Why)” (1992) [2]. Three singles, “Feels So Right,” “Love in the First Degree” and “Take Me Down,” reached the pop Top Twenty [2].

Awards and community work

The band won Grammys in 1982 for Mountain Music and in 1983 for The Closer You Get… and was named Country Music Association Entertainer of the Year three straight years, 1982–1984 [1][2]. It received a Hollywood Walk of Fame star in 1998, the Minnie Pearl Humanitarian Award in 2000 and entered the Musicians Hall of Fame in 2019 [2]. The June Jam festival in Fort Payne, sponsored by the band from 1982 for fifteen years, drew up to 60,000 fans, and profits went to local charities and schools [1][2]. Randy Owen and his wife Kelly gave funds for a women’s and children’s section of the DeKalb County hospital [1]. See Fort Payne.

Retirement and later years

The group announced its retirement in 2002 and toured in 2003–2004 [2]. It reunited for a 2011 charity concert, resumed touring for its fortieth anniversary in 2013, and released Southern Drawl in 2015, its first new album since 2001 [2]. In 2016 the Country Music Hall of Fame mounted a year-long exhibit, with items later returned to the Alabama Fan Club and Museum in Fort Payne [1]. In 2018 the band headlined a benefit concert for Jacksonville State University after a March tornado damaged the campus [1]. Jeff Cook died on November 8, 2022, at his Destin, Florida, home after a long battle with Parkinson’s disease [1]. In 2025 the group reunited with Herndon for an encore of “Mountain Music” in Huntsville [2]. The band’s tour bus is displayed at the Alabama Music Hall of Fame.

FAQs

How many No. 1 hits did Alabama have? Encyclopedia of Alabama counts 42 country No. 1 singles; another source counts more than thirty between 1980 and 1993 [1][2].

When did Alabama join the Country Music Hall of Fame? 2005 [1][2].

Sources

1. Encyclopedia of Alabama: Alabama (Music Group)
2. Country Music Hall of Fame: Alabama
3. American Songwriter: The Southern Origins of Alabama

Editorially reviewed by Specialty Digest Editorial TeamLast reviewed November 10, 2026Researched and drafted with AI assistanceReport an issue